The two men she loved most
by mirdaishan
Summary: Spoilers for Season 14! Morgan loves two men in her life most of all - her father and Greg. These stories will focus on the three of them, Morgan and Greg are already together. Chapter 11 - minor spoilers for 14x08! After talking to Dawn's son Tyler, Morgan thinks she's through being a CSI. Can Greg help her change her mind?
1. Recovering

**I got the idea to write some stories about Morgan, Greg and Ecklie after watching episode 14x01 (don't read any further if you don't want spoilers!) - when I saw that scene where Morgan woke up in the hospital when her father was there, I felt like something... someONE was missing: Greg. So, that was the idea for this story, but after that, I got another idea, so I decided to do more than 1 story about the three of them.  
I don't know yet how many stories there are going to be, you'll see! :)**

**Hope you'll enjoy this first story, but remember:**

**Major spoilers for 14x01!**

_**Chapter 1 - Recovering**_

She loved that her father was there, but there was one other person she wanted to see more than him.

"W-where's… Greg?" she asked her father with a shaky voice. He didn't know she and Greg had been going out for several weeks before her kidnapping, but she didn't care about their secret anymore. She wanted to see him and let him know she was okay. Did he even already know she was in the hospital? Yes, she vaguely remembered seeing him before she had been taken here.

"He should be here any second, he just wanted to check on Brass," her father told her. As if that was his cue, Greg slowly stepped into the room, a shy smile on his face. "Hey…"

"Hi!" Her whole face lit up, she just couldn't help it. She was so happy to see him!

"I'll give you two a moment," her father decided and he left the room. Greg immediately walked over to the bed to give her a hug. Careful of course, but it was exactly what she needed.

"Greg, I…" she started, but he shook his head. "It's okay, Morgan, _you're_ gonna be okay. We've caught Ellie, the killer's dead… It's all over now! After the funeral we can just start forgetting any of this ever happened!"

"Funeral?" she repeated. Too late he realized she didn't know Ellie had shot her mother yet. He hesitated telling her, but seeing the worried look in her eyes he still told her. Quietly, she leaned back into her pillow.

"Please don't think this is your fault, Morgan, you did everything you could to get away!" Greg softly said. She looked away from him. "I told her that her mother was here… If I hadn't told her that, she'd…"

"She would have done it anyway!" Greg interrupted her. "Don't blame yourself, Morgan, this isn't your fault! Ellie was angry anyway, she tried to shoot Brass as well! Please don't think about her, but just focus on you, okay? You need to get better now, that's all that matters!"

She still stared at the ceiling.

"Hey…" Greg took her hand in his and looked at her. "Come on, Morgan, you're stronger than this! You didn't fight to get out alive just so you can give up now! Please don't let Ellie's actions get you down!"

"You're right," she suddenly decided. After all Ellie was the reason she was in the hospital now and unable to be at home with the guy she loved. That guy now looked at her with a smile on his face and his eyes filled with love for her. "That's my girl! I love you so much, Morgan, and I was so scared! When we found the fifth victim, when I saw her… I thought my heart stood still right there and then… I couldn't even check myself if it was you or not, Nick had to do it…"

"Does he… know about us?" she carefully asked him. He immediately shook his head. "No… But… your Dad does…"

Surprised, she looked at him. He shook his head again. "I had to tell him, Morgan, I care too much for you to be able to hide my feelings for you during all of this!"

She completely understood, she wouldn't have been able to hide her feelings either if it had been Greg who had been kidnapped.

"What did he say?" she hesitantly asked him.

"He wasn't actually that surprised," he confessed. "Like he already suspected something, I guess… And he's totally fine with it, although I still wonder if he really gets how much you mean to me. He was so worried, Morgan, I just can't explain it! He loves you so much!"

She gave him a small smile. "I know… I love him too! And you…"

Smiling, she looked up at him, hoping he'd finally do what she had wanted him to do since he walked in. To her relief, he understood the look in her eyes and bent towards her to kiss her. Their lips were still locked together when Ecklie walked back in.

"Oh… I… eh… sorry… I'll… eh…" He had never looked so uncomfortable, which made both of them smile.

"It's okay, Dad, you can come in," Morgan said with a grin. "You know about me and Greg, so I heard…"

"Yeah, he told me," Ecklie nodded, putting his hand on Greg's shoulder with a friendly smile. "Don't worry, we'll make it work once you get back to work. But first you need to get better!"

"I feel fine already again," she told him, hardly lying. She was definitely feeling a lot better after Greg's kiss! Her father shook his head. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that! Is there anything you need? Something to drink? Eat?"

She already started shaking her head, when Greg suddenly suggested: "Or tell us what exactly happened?"

The suggestion made her shiver for a moment, but then she realized it could help her get over it all. Plus, her father and Greg deserved to know what had happened to her.

"Okay," she decided with a small nod. She tried to sit up a little better, but it hurt so much Greg immediately rushed over to help her. He then sat down next to Ecklie on the edge of her bed and took her hand in his again to let her know he would be there to help her get through it all. She knew he would be, he and her father would both be there for her. Forgetting what had happened to her would be impossible, but with their help she would at least be able to try and get back to being her old self again.


	2. Difficult

**Wow, so many reactions after that first chapter! I definitely did not expect that! But thank you all so much, so glad you all liked that first chapter!  
****Here's the second chapter for you all - contains spoilers for 14x02!**

_**Chapter 2 - Difficult**_

It had been a difficult case for both of them. Her first one back on the job… The memories of everything that had happened to her still in the back of her mind… and then a kidnapped baby… She wanted to be strong so bad, show people she was able to handle everything and just carry on, but it was just too difficult for her. Breaking down while processing a scene… Something like that had never happened to her before! She felt ashamed about it now, but she kept it to herself, because she knew everyone would tell her she had nothing to be ashamed about. Especially Greg… He had been so sweet! He always was, it was one of the things she loved so much about him, but this time… He had shown once again he was there for her, but in such a way that she didn't have the idea he was feeling sorry for her. Of course he was – he hated that all of this had happened to her – but he didn't make her feel like she was less now than she was before. He understood it was difficult for her to get back to normal, he often enough let her know he was there for her and he gave her all the time she needed to recover. And during all of that, he had to deal with the situation himself as well.

For him it was difficult as well: seeing the woman he loved so much struggling and not be able to comfort her the way he wanted. Not because he was afraid people would find out about their relationship – honestly, he couldn't care less – but because he knew she wouldn't like it. He knew how much she wanted to show everyone how strong she was, so he just asked her casual questions if she was okay and offered to do things for her, even though he already knew she wouldn't let him do them. The moment in the baby room had been the most difficult thing all case long: watching her break down, trying to pull herself together immediately again after that… He had wanted to hold her so badly! Hold her and take her home with him, away from everything…

He hadn't done it, however. She would have just said 'no' and maybe she would even have gotten a little angry with him for suggesting such a thing. So, all he had done was give her the hug she needed so badly and then let her get back to work. It seemed to have worked… until the end of the case. When he called her to let her know they had found the money, he could hear it in her voice.

"Hey, Sara," he said, putting away his cell, "do you think you could finish up here by yourself?"

"Yeah, sure!" she immediately said. "Is everything okay?"

He smiled a little. Sara always knew it when things were off with him!

"I just have somewhere I need to be," he told her. She smiled back at him. "Go, I understand. Morgan needs you more than I do."

"Thanks, Sara, you're the best!" He quickly grabbed his things, threw his gloves in the nearest trash can and took out his cell again as he rushed towards his car. Morgan didn't answer her phone for a few minutes, which she explained when she finally did pick up: "I was talking to Russell, he… wanted to know if I was okay… I am, really! I'm just going home now. I… I…"

He could hear her say it, even though he only heard silence on the other end of the line. 'I need you with me here'.

"I'm on my way over," he told her and then hung up, knowing that anything else he'd say would make her burst out into tears.

By the time he reached her house, she had gotten her emotions under control again.

"I picked out a movie, I thought we could watch it together," she said, quickly turning away from him and starting to make her way to the living room. He gently grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. "Morgan…"

She shook her head. "Not now, Greg. I just wanna watch the movie, that's all. Right now I'm kinda sick of talking. I just wanna be with you, okay?"

"Do you have any popcorn left?" he just asked her, knowing arguing was useless.

"Yeah, there's some in the kitchen."

He walked over to the kitchen and let out a deep sigh before he started preparing the microwave popcorn. With a full bowl he returned to the living room, finding Morgan on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her. He put the bowl on the table and sat down next to her. She immediately crawled up to him, resting her head on his chest. He wrapped the blanket and his arms tightly around her and just held her. If this was what she wanted, then this was what he'd do.

About halfway through the movie, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"I'll get it," he quickly said, seeing she was close to drifting off to sleep. He got up from the couch, walked to the front door and opened it.

"Hey," Ecklie greeted him. "I just wanted to check on my daughter."

Greg looked at the living room door, hesitating letting Ecklie in.

"I'm not sure now's the best time," he finally said. "We've had a bit of a difficult case and she has taken it a lot harder than I had expected. No, wait, let me rephrase that: she has taken it a lot harder than _she_ had expected."

Ecklie gave him a small nod. "I was afraid of that… But she'll be alright, I know she will be. If there's anything I can do, just let me know, okay? Further I know you'll be there for her. Take good care of her, will you?"

"I will," Greg promised Morgan's father. "I really love her, Sir, I really do!"

"I know you do," Ecklie said with a smile. "And do me a favor, okay? When there's no one else around, just call me Conrad. At work it's still Sheriff Ecklie and you'll still be CSI Sanders, but here: Conrad and Greg, okay?"

Greg nodded. "Sure, Si… eh… Conrad."

Ecklie smiled at him. "Alright! Well, I'm off again then, I'll stop by some other time. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" Greg quietly closed the door and returned to the living room, where he saw Morgan had fallen asleep. Carefully, he shut down the TV and DVD-player before crawling back on the couch next to her with the blanket and his arms around her. Things would still be difficult for a while, but together they'd make it through.


	3. A bear hug

**Wow... So many amazing, sweet reviews! Thank you so much, I really love and appreciate them! And Jenntedisco, I've read your idea and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna use it! :)**

**Here's chapter three for you guys now - I actually got the idea for this story before I watched 14x02, so I kinda changed it to fit the episode. Contains minor spoilers!  
Hope you'll enjoy it! :)**

_**Chapter 3 - A bear hug**_

Two days had passed since they had closed the baby kidnapping / casino robbery case and Morgan seemed to be doing okay again. Or at least, that was what everyone thought, Greg included. When he walked past the evidence locker one evening, however, he found Morgan there with the baby's teddy bear in her hands. He immediately stopped, looking at her with a worried feeling growing inside of him. Slowly, he started to make his way into the evidence locker, being careful not to scare her.

"Hey," he softly said. "What's going on?"

She kept staring at the teddy bear, not looking at him.

"Isn't that Christopher's teddy bear?" he asked her, determined to get some words out of her mouth and not let her slip into another emotional breakdown.

"Yes…"

One word… It was a start! He took another few steps forward until he was standing next to her. Finally, she looked at him. "They forgot to take it when they brought Christopher… When they brought him…"

He could hear her voice was already starting to break, so he quickly grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him. "Hey… He's going to be just fine without his teddy bear, don't worry! He probably has loads of other toys and stuffed animals to play with!"

"You don't get it…"

_No, I don't, so please explain it to me!_ He knew he was being impatient, but he just didn't understand why Morgan was so upset over a teddy bear… They had talked about the whole case, she seemed to be doing fine again and now she was practically in tears over a stuffed animal… He still loved her with his whole heart, but he was having more and more trouble every day to understand her after her kidnapping.

"Have you ever had a stuffed animal, a teddy bear or another animal, that you would carry around with you everywhere?" she suddenly asked him. "That you would hold when you were trying to fall asleep, that you would sit down on the breakfast table, that you would take to school, the playground, the supermarket… That you'd hug when you were feeling sad… or dance around with when you were feeling happy… Have you ever had such a toy?"

After thinking long and hard, he had to say: "No, I haven't."

"Well, I had." She looked away from him, back at Christopher's teddy bear. "My Dad gave it to me when I was born. He brought it to the hospital, my Mum told me, and put it in my crib. At first the nurse was worried about it, but apparently I loved it from the very first minute on and I started crying when she took it away, so… she just let it be in my crib. And when I went home, Teddy would always be there with me. I'd sleep next to him, I'd eat with him nearby… And when I got older, I carried him around with me everywhere I went. To the playground, to school, to the supermarket, to grandma's…"

She smiled a little. "I remember being completely upset one day when I thought I had lost him. I was always holding him by one of his paws and because of that, it was coming loose a little. When I was shopping with my Dad one day, the paw completely came loose and I was only holding that paw. I was screaming and crying… My Dad turned the whole supermarket upside down until we found him… He was okay, he had just fallen under one of the freezers. I remember wrapping him in my jacket, because I was afraid he was cold!"

She smiled again. "And then… When my parents divorced, all I could think was 'My Dad gave me that teddy bear. I hate my Dad, so I hate Teddy.' My Mum and I moved and… I didn't take Teddy with me. I've never seen him again after that…"

She looked up at him, letting out a deep sigh. "You probably think I've gone completely mad, don't you?"

"I don't think so," he immediately reassured her. "If I would have had a teddy bear like you did, I'd probably worry about this teddy as well. But I'm sure Christopher has another toy or stuffed animal that he can grow attached to. Just like you did with your teddy bear!"

She gave him a small smile. "Yeah, you're probably right. He'll be fine without his teddy! I'll, eh, get back to work. See if Henry has my results yet."

"Okay." He watched her walk away and waited until he couldn't see her anymore. Then he took off in the other direction, walking faster with every step.

Later that night Morgan tried to read through the report Henry had given her in the breakroom. It was just trying, because she couldn't focus. People kept walking in, asking her if she was okay, and the coffee she had helped herself to, wasn't that helpful either as it was a leftover from the first pot, which had been made at the beginning of their shift. So when her Dad walked in, asking if it was okay to interrupt for a moment, she gladly pushed the report aside.

"Unable to concentrate?" he asked her. She nodded with a sad smile on her face. "Yeah… Everybody seems to think they need to ask me every two seconds if I'm okay. How am I supposed to deal with everything if everyone keeps reminding me?"

"Talking about things does help," her father wisely commented. "Just choose the people you talk to carefully. Me, Greg… or an old friend…"

And after those words he put a worn out teddy bear on the table. Completely amazed Morgan stared at it. It was her Teddy! She recognized every part of him – the part where his paw had been reattached to his body (her mother's work), the bold spot on his tummy which she had used as a pillow for years, the missing part from his ear after a dog had bitten him (apparently she had screamed so loud the dog had ran away and had been scared of her the rest of his life)… It was really her Teddy, every little part of him! Still amazed, she looked up at her Dad. "How did… Where did…"

Suddenly, it hit her. Of course! Sweet, sweet Greg had talked to her Dad after their conversation, realizing her father would have never thrown away something a precious as her teddy bear.

"He'll always be there for you when you need him," her father told her. "If you don't feel like talking to me or Greg, then talk to him. You used to do it all the time when you were little! When you had gotten a bad grade or another kid had been mean to you, Teddy would hear all about it. And if you were feeling down, you'd hug him and you'd be alright again. I thought it might help you now as well…"

She looked up from the teddy bear and saw Greg standing in the doorway. Smiling, she turned back to her father. "Thanks, Dad, but I'm afraid someone will get jealous if I hug Teddy first…"

Both Greg and her father laughed at her joke, glad to finally hear her say something like this.

"I promise I won't get jealous," Greg said with a grin. Morgan answered his grin with a warm smile. "I know you won't… And I'll get back to normal one day, I promise!"

"We know you will and you can take all the time you need," her father said. "After what you've been through, it's only normal that you don't bounce back in one day or one week. Just try to accept that yourself, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded with another warm smile. "Thanks, Dad. And thanks, Greg, I love having Teddy back! It means the world to me! I'm just sorry I can't give you something in return, I would have gladly found another teddy bear or a stuffed lion or tiger for you…"

"I've got you," he told her with a loving smile. "That's all I need."


	4. Dinner with Dad

**Thanks for all your follows/favorites and great reviews, I really love them! :D  
****This chapter is a little different from the others - I wanted to do a story without mentioning Morgan's kidnapping and this is what I came up with... Hope you guys like it! :)  
Minor (very minor) spoilers for 14x03! The case mentioned later on in the story is from 13x21, the cases Morgan and Greg are working on in this chapter have been made up by me!**

_**Chapter 4 - Dinner with Dad**_

"So is it true?"

Conrad Ecklie looked up from his computer and immediately smiled when he saw his daughter standing in the doorway of his office.

"Hey, M," he smiled at her. "Is what true?"

"That the sheriff of Las Vegas helped two CSIs dig through a whole lot of mess to help find evidence of an arsonist?" Morgan stepped into the office, her eyes with a questioning look in them towards her Dad. He was still smiling at her. "I'm afraid everything you've heard is true!"

"Wow… I'm impressed," she said, helping herself to a chair.

"Hey, as a sheriff, you shouldn't be afraid of getting your hands dirty!" he told her with a small grin. She smiled back at him for the first time, dropping her fake serious attitude. "That's true!"

They smiled at each other for another moment before Conrad said: "Good that you're here, by the way, I've been wanting to ask you something."

Automatically, Morgan braced herself, afraid of another 'How are you doing?' question.

"Would you and Greg like to come over for dinner at my place tomorrow?"

Her father's question completely surprised her, but she recovered quickly: "Oh… Yeah, sure, why not?"

"I knew you both have the day off tomorrow, but I wasn't sure if you had any plans already," her father continued. Morgan decided to stick to 'No' as an answer to that question as the plans she had made with Greg weren't actual plans to share with her Dad…

"I just thought it'd be nice to talk, just the three of us, because… Well, we haven't really had the chance to do that since I found out about you two together," her Dad explained his dinner invitation. "I just want to talk about you two, that's all. No difficult questions, I promise!"

"Sure, fine by me," she nodded. "I'll tell Greg and we'll be there tomorrow. What time?"

"Around seven?" Conrad suggested. She nodded again. "Sure, no problem! We'll see you then!"

She left her Dad's office and went back to work, trying to find out who had stolen a valuable pair of earrings from the wife of a casino owner. It was her first solo case since her kidnapping, but she had told Russell – who was still worried about her – she could handle it. And she could: before shift was over she had figured out the jealous daughter in law of the woman had stolen the pair. Happy that her first solo case had been such an easy one she went to find Greg, who was digging through a pile of garbage with Sara.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked them with an amused look on her face.

"Our suspect says he threw his knife, also known as our murder weapon, into one of these garbage cans," Sara explained while she pointed at the eight other garbage cans standing against the wall. "Feel free to help us!"

"As much as I'd love to dig through rotten tomatoes and other things I prefer not to think about, I came here to talk to Greg," Morgan told her with a smile on a face. "Can I talk to you for a second, Greg?"

"Definitely!" he responded with relief. "Several seconds even, if you want!"

He threw his dirty gloves on another pile of garbage and followed her out of the room. "What is it?"

"Oh, I just wanted to let you know that my Dad invited us for dinner at his place tomorrow," she told him. "I hope that's okay with you?"

"Dinner with your Dad? Oh… well… eh… sure, why not?" He gave her smile, but she could tell it was fake. "What's wrong?"

He grinned a little. "What are you talking about? Everything's fine! Apart from those eight garbage cans that still need to be searched… I, eh, best get back to it. I'll come over to your place after shift, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," she said with a slight frown. "Please take a shower before you leave…"

"Will do!" He gave her a quick smile before he hurried back into the evidence room. Morgan stared at the doorway he had just disappeared through. What was wrong with him all of a sudden? She heard Sara asking him if he was okay, to which he replied he was fine. She frowned again. So she wasn't the only one who thought he was suddenly acting strange… What was the matter with him? Was it because her Dad had invited them for dinner? But why would that make him nervous? They had been together with her Dad before and it had never made him nervous. Why would it now all of a sudden?

Morgan tried talking to Greg again when he got home from work and the entire next day, but he kept telling her he was fine. When they were in the car on their way to her father's house, however, he was unusually quiet and once Conrad had let them in, she could see little drops of sweat on his forehead.

"What's wrong?" she whispered to him when her Dad had gone to the kitchen to get them something to drink.

"Nothing!" he whispered back, which she of course didn't buy. A little angry she whispered: "You're lying! Why are you so nervous about this dinner?"

"Because I'm the guy going out with his daughter!" he finally explained. "At work, whenever we talk, it's all easy and relaxed, but here I'm just the guy going out with his daughter! I've never met my girlfriend's parents before, but from what I heard from friends and colleagues it's never easy!"

She wanted to tell him he was being ridiculous, but her father already returned with their drinks.

"Thanks, Dad," she smiled at him. "So, what are you making us tonight? Or should I say: pretending to make us? It wouldn't be the first time you ordered Chinese and then pretended you made all of it yourself!"

"Hey, that happened only once!" her father defended himself. "Don't listen to her, Greg, I'm a very good cook! And if you don't believe me, check the kitchen for yourself!"

"Don't mind if I do!" She got up from the couch and went to the kitchen, hoping her father would follow her. To her relief, he did.

"I don't care about your cooking, I just wanted to let you know Greg's really nervous about this dinner," she immediately told him. "He's suddenly very aware of the fact that you're my father and I think he's got some kind of weird idea in his head that you're going to give him a hard time tonight or something like that. Can you please tell him he doesn't have to worry?"

Her father smiled at her. "Sure, M. Anything for the guy that makes you so happy!"

With a blush on her cheeks she turned away, suddenly really realizing for the very first time how happy Greg actually made her. She loved him, she just couldn't put it any other way.

In the living room Greg was nervously staring at the walls in the meantime. When Conrad returned, he quickly sat up a little straighter.

"Morgan's checking all the trashcans to make sure I'm telling the truth," Conrad told him with a little grin. "I guess once you make a mistake once, they'll never trust you again!"

Greg smiled at him, but it was just a polite smile.

"Greg, will you please relax?" Conrad suddenly said, sitting down on the chair next to the couch. "I'm not planning on torturing you because you're going out with my daughter! I've known you longer than she has known you, so I know even better than her that you're a great guy. And I can just see how happy you make her, so I'm really not gonna give you a hard time! I just wanted to have you guys over for dinner to talk about how things are going and about how you got together. I know you've liked my daughter for ages… Yes, I knew, don't look so surprised! Everyone at LVPD knew, even Nick's dog Sam knew! I'm just curious how you two finally got together, that's all! Can you blame a man who's had to be curious his entire career?"

Greg finally seemed to relax and for the first time, his smile was a real one.

"No, I can't blame you," he admitted with a grin. "And yes, I have liked your daughter for ages… I just never knew she liked me as well…"

"I didn't realize it until you went back to that slaughter house all by yourself."

Greg and Conrad both looked up and saw Morgan standing in the doorway. She smiled as she walked over to the couch, sat down and took Greg's hand in hers before she started telling her father about the case they had been working on. She could remember every moment of it: from Greg telling her about his 'gift' till the moment he told her he wanted to go back and then finding out the killer was with him. She could remember exactly how terrified she had been that he would get hurt, let alone something worse. It was then that she had realized how much she cared about him… and that she had to tell him. During breakfast, which she had invited him to after he had safely returned, she had admitted her feelings for him and he had finally said out loud what he felt for her.

"And the rest is history!" she finished her story, smiling happily at her boyfriend. He smiled back at her, a warm, loving smile, one that always made her heart jump.

"I'll go check on dinner," her father quickly decided, realizing they needed a moment alone. Before he had even left the room, Morgan had kissed Greg already.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you too," he whispered back. "And I'm sorry I was acting so strange about this!"

"It's okay," she told him. "I guess if one of your parents was the sheriff of Las Vegas I would have been nervous as well!"


	5. Someday

**Thanks for the reviews, they always put a smile on my face! :D  
****Here's chapter 5 already - another 'light' chapter, because I'm planning something a little more serious for the next one. If I have the time, I'll try to write and publish it here before the next CSI episode... Episode 300 already, wow!  
****For now here's this story, contains spoilers for 14x04! Enjoy! :)**

_**Chapter 5 - Someday**_

"And that's why we don't want to go to that new barbecue restaurant with you tonight," Morgan finished her story.

After shift, she and Greg had stopped by her father's office to say hi for a moment, after which he had invited them for dinner at a newly opened barbecue restaurant. The case she and Greg had worked on, however, had made them feel more like a vegetable salad tonight, something her Dad didn't understand without an explanation. Now he started laughing.

"Yeah, I understand," he smiled. "You know, after doing this job for so long I shouldn't be surprised anymore about what people can do to each other, but this… Revenge in a kitchen?"

"Well, they say revenge is best served cold, don't they?" Greg noted.

"Cold, yes, so that explains the body in the freezer, but where does it say that revenge is best served sliced up and cooked?" Morgan commented, looking at him with one of her well-known questioning looks. He smiled at her, his eyes automatically filled with love. "I guess that's new style revenge…"

Grinning, she allowed him to pull her close and kiss her on top of her head… at the exact same moment that there was a knock on the door. Quickly Greg let her go, but Hodges was already giving him a funny look. He had of course already entered Ecklie's office before the sheriff had called him in and the open door had helped him to see what had just happened between Greg and Morgan.

"What's going on?" he asked. Ecklie remained silent, Greg and Morgan just looked at each other.

"Hodges, what are you doing here?" she finally asked him.

"I… wanted to talk to someone and you had your phone turned off, so I decided to talk to your father instead," he explained, still giving her and Greg a non-understanding look.

"Yeah, I turn my phone off after work these days," she softly told him, feeling more and more uncomfortable with every second. It wasn't anything big that Hodges had seen, but still…

"Why did you want to talk to Morgan or her father?" Greg asked him in an attempt to change the subject.

"Elisabetta and I broke off our engagement…"

A silence fell over all of them. Morgan was the first to speak up: "Oh, Hodges, I'm so sorry for you! I knew you guys were having doubts, but I didn't think you'd actually break off your engagement… I'm really sorry for you!"

She tried to give him a friendly hug, but to her surprise, he stepped back. The frown reappeared on his face, as well as the funny look in his eyes.

"That wedding you told me about…" he started. "The one you went to last year… It was your own wedding, wasn't it? You and Greg got married!"

"What? No!" Morgan called out. "It was a friend of mine, Greg and I didn't get married!"

Hodges kept nodding. "Yes, it was! You two got married and since your father knows about it, he can help you keep it a secret! I know what I just saw!"

"Hodges, you're being totally ridiculous!" Morgan said, an angry tone in her voice.

"What you saw, was just a hug, nothing more!" Greg tried to help her. "And besides, don't you think I would have acted a little different if it was my _wife_ that had been kidnapped several weeks ago?"

Girlfriend or wife… He still felt the same for her and he remembered how difficult it had been to keep his feelings a secret during Morgan's kidnapping. He knew he hadn't totally succeeded since Ecklie knew about their relationship now, but as it turned out, that wasn't even a bad thing.

"I don't care what you're saying, I don't believe you anymore!" Hodges insisted. "I can't believe you lied about it all this time… First Sara and Grissom, now you two…"

"The more you're saying, the more I'm thinking that you just had too much to drink!" Morgan snapped at him. "We are not married! And even if we were, it's none of your business!"

Hodges seemed hurt after her last comment, so she quickly apologized: "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that… What I meant was that my personal life is… my personal life, not yours. I tried to stay out of yours as well, except for when you asked me to get involved, but I'm not asking you to get involved in mine. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Look, Hodges, if you want to talk, then talk to me, but I doubt I'm the right person to help you get through this," Ecklie finally spoke up. "Don't you have a friend that you can go to? Henry perhaps? Or…"

He fell silent. Morgan knew her father realized Hodges didn't really have any other friends at the lab.

"Look," she already started, but she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Sorry to bother you, sheriff, but Russell asked me to give you these files," Finn said as she slowly stepped into the office. "Oh, wow, are we having a family meeting?"

She smiled happily at her three colleagues until she realized something was wrong.

"Hodges and Elisabetta broke off their engagement," Morgan explained.

"Oh, Hodges, I'm sorry!" Finn immediately said. "Oh, you poor thing, you must feel terrible! You know what? I have the exact right cure for this stashed away in a bottle in my locker! Come on, we'll have a drink together and we can talk!"

She gently took Hodges' arm and led him out of the office, winking quickly at Morgan and Greg before she left.

"I think she knows," Ecklie slowly said, who had seen the wink as well. Morgan let out a deep sigh. "And Hodges knows…"

"I think Sara knows too," Greg added. Morgan let out another deep sigh. "What are we going to do? If almost everyone knows about us…"

"Why don't you just tell everyone?" Ecklie suggested. Morgan immediately shook her head. "Oh, no! Then they're all just gonna get involved and I do _not_ want that!"

"It's not that we don't wanna tell people, it's just… well… what Morgan said," Greg agreed. "They'll just be teasing us and asking us when we're gonna get married and when we're gonna have kids… Russell will talk about 'the old married couple' when he sends us to a crime scene together… I know it's just teasing, but…"

"It's not funny," Ecklie understood. "Alright, you're old and wise enough to make your own decisions! Let's hope then that Finn gets Hodges drunk enough to forget about what he saw, because otherwise by this time tomorrow the entire lab will know!"

After completely agreeing on that, Greg and Morgan decided to go home. On Thursdays they always spent their nights at Morgan's place, so they drove together in her car to her house in Green Valley.

"You know, I can't stop thinking about what Hodges said," Morgan said after they had settled down on her couch. "About us getting married… Did he really think we were married? I mean, how long have we actually been dating?"

"Some people get married on their first date," Greg mentioned.

"And divorced on the second?" Morgan said with a laugh. "Come on, how long do those marriages last? How can you know on the first date that you want to spend the rest of your life with that other person?"

"Sometimes you just know."

She looked at him and realized he was talking about himself know. He already knew she was the one for him, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life together with her. He had probably already known since the first time they met.

"Sometimes the other person just doesn't know it yet," she softly whispered. She had liked Greg when she first met him – he had made her smile and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about his clumsy flirting for weeks – but it had taken her a lot longer to realize how much she really liked him and that she was deeply in love with him.

"Why don't we make a deal?" she suggested, still whispering. "That someday, when we both want it, that we get married, okay?"

"Deal," Greg nodded with a smile full of love. She quickly pointed her finger at him. "But you have to ask me, don't forget that!"

He grinned at her. "Deal again! Can I practice by asking you something now?"

She leaned back a little, her finger still pointed at him. "What?"

"Do you still have some of that cake left over that we had yesterday? That was so go…"

Before he was able to finish his sentence, she had pushed him back and started tickling him. Laughing, he grabbed her arms and pulled her close to kiss her. She happily responded to it and within minutes, both getting married and the cake were forgotten.


	6. Nightmares

**Aw, thanks for all the lovely reviews again, I really love them! :D  
This next story was inspired by an idea Jenntedisco gave me a while ago - she wanted a story about Morgan having a nightmare and Greg comforting her. I kinda turned it into a little more because I didn't want to do a traditional nightmare / comforting story and I wanted to include Ecklie of course. Hope you guys like what I came up with! :)**

**Very minor spoilers for 14x01.**

Greg could tell Morgan was exhausted. He watched her as she fell down onto his bed with her arms stretched out above her head.

"These double shifts are really murder," she said with a big yawn. He smiled at her while making his way into the bathroom. "Tell me about it! Although actually you should be happy that it's just a double shift! When I was still working as a DNA tech, everyone was always complaining about triples. Three shifts in a row! Now that's murder, don't you think? Morgan?"

He turned around to see why she didn't answer. When he saw why, he couldn't help but smile. She had already fallen asleep, lying in the same position as he had seen her fall down onto the bed. Carefully, he took off her shoes and socks, moved her into a more comfortable position and then gently pulled the covers over her. He quickly rushed back over to the bathroom to turn off the light before he crawled into bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Goodnight, Morgan," he softly whispered in her ear and kissed her on top of her head. Then he closed his own eyes and tried to get some sleep himself.

In the middle of the night he suddenly woke up, feeling a horrible pain in his arm. He blinked a few times to try and wake up and figure out where the pain was coming from. Was he lying in a strange position? No, he was still in the same position as he had fallen asleep into: his arms around Morgan, her head on his chest. All of a sudden he realized Morgan was causing the pain in his arm. She had both of her hands around his arm, holding him so tight it really hurt.

"Morgan… Morgan…" He tried to shake her a little with his other hand to try and wake her up, but she didn't move. Instead, she grabbed his arm even tighter.

"Morgan, you're hurting me!" He didn't bother whispering anymore, because she was actually hurting him. With as much force as he dared use he pushed her back, freeing his arm. The terrified look on her face he saw, was the second clue that she was having a horrible nightmare.

"Morgan, wake up!" he told her, speaking louder with every word. "Come on, Morgan, wake up!"

He could see sweat on her forehead and she was now holding herself tightly.

"Morgan, wake up!" he repeated, shaking her a little harder this time. "Wake up, Morgan, now!"

He kept shaking and pushing her until she finally woke up. With her eyes wide open she just lay there. She stared at the ceiling without moving or even blinking.

"Morgan?" He carefully touched her arm. When she didn't pull back, he pulled her into a hug, but to his surprise, she didn't cry.

"Where you dreaming about…" He didn't finish his sentence, not sure whether or not to bring up her kidnapping. He looked at her to see her reaction. She still wasn't crying, she just stared at something in the distance.

"Morgan…"

Finally, she looked at him.

"Sorry I woke you up," she whispered. He frowned. "Don't be silly, you don't have to be sorry!"

"Yes, I have to be…" She looked away from him, but he had seen the tears in her eyes. Before he could pull her back into a hug, they were already rolling down her face.

"I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "I just… I can't stop thinking about it!"

"Hey, it's okay… It's alright, you're safe now!" He rocked her gently in his arms, holding her tightly. "No one's gonna hurt you, I promise! You're safe now, Morgan!"

He kept rocking her in his arms until her sobbing became softer and softer and finally stopped. When he looked at her, he saw she had fallen back to sleep. He kissed her on top of her head for the second time that evening and then tried to get back to sleep again.

Several hours later they arrived together at CSI. Even though Greg had suggested that Morgan would stay at home for a day, she had insisted on coming. She was working on a case with Sara and according to Sara's latest text message, they were close to catching the killer. Greg hesitated: should he warn Sara about how Morgan was feeling again lately? He decided not to, but to point someone else in the right direction. He walked over to Russell's office and knocked on the door.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure, Greg, come on in!" Russell nodded. Greg stepped into the office and walked over to his supervisor's desk.

"I wanted to talk to you about Morgan," he started. "I think… Oh, hello, Sheriff!"

A blush appeared on his cheeks when he suddenly noticed Conrad Ecklie sitting in a chair in a corner.

"Sanders," Morgan's father nodded. "What is it about my daughter that you want to talk about?"

"Well, eh, I think she could use some time off," Greg said, trying to find a way to let Ecklie know how serious the situation was and at the same time not to worry Russell too much. "She says she's okay to work again, but I don't think she has really dealt with the whole kidnapping yet. She…"

He was interrupted by his own phone. He checked the caller and when he saw it was Hodges, he hung up.

"She is still having trouble…" he started again, but for the second time he was interrupted by his phone. And for the second time, it was Hodges. He ended the call and looked at Russell. "She's trying to be… You gotta be kidding me, right?"

Almost angry he looked at his phone.

"Who is it?" Ecklie asked him.

"Hodges."

"Maybe he has some results for you," Ecklie suggested. "Go see him and come back after that. I'll talk to DB in the meantime."

He gave Greg a reassuring look to let him know he wouldn't say a word about their relationship.

"I won't be long," Greg promised, intending not to stay with Hodges a second longer than necessary. He left Russell's office and started to make his way over to the Trace lab, passing the breakroom on his way there. When he looked inside, he saw Morgan had fallen asleep on the couch. For a moment he stood still to watch her until his phone reminded him that someone apparently needed him very bad. Annoyed, he continued his way.

"Okay, this better be important!" he snapped at the lab tech when he had entered the Trace lab.

"What? I just thought you needed these results," Hodges defended himself. "Gimme a break, okay? My fiancé and I just broke up…"

"Oh, so you're gonna use that for everything now?" Then Greg realized Hodges had seen him hug and kiss Morgan. The lab tech still hadn't said anything about it and Greg was a little scared he might wait for the right moment to tell everyone else.

"Sorry," he quickly apologized. "I know it must be hard on you… I'm sorry! What have you got for me?"

He listened to him rambling on about something, politely thanked him and then hurried back to Russell's office after of course checking the breakroom once more.

"So, you thought I should give Morgan some extra time off," Russell started the conversation again.

"And I agree," Ecklie said. "She got back to work much too quickly and it seems to me too that she still hasn't given everything a place yet. And since one of her colleagues has noticed it as well, I'd say that's more than enough evidence!"

"One of her colleagues?" Russell repeated. "Just colleagues?"

He gave Greg a questioning look. Greg tried very hard not to blush, but a sudden sound made his cheeks go bright red. Not out a shyness, but out of fear. The sound he heard was a woman screaming and the voice he recognized immediately. It was Morgan…

He ran out of Russell's office to the breakroom, closely followed by Ecklie. He found Morgan sitting on the couch, screaming and crying hysterically. As soon as she saw Greg, she threw her arms around him and held him so tight he nearly couldn't breathe anymore.

"It's okay, Morgan, I'm here!" he whispered in her ear. He started rocking her again, just like he had done last night, but she pushed him away. "Dad!"

"I'm right here, M, don't worry," Ecklie said with a smile. "What's the matter, honey? What happened?"

"You and Greg… She can't hurt you, she just can't!" She started crying hysterically again. "She can't…"

"What are you talking about, Morgan?" Greg asked her, even though he already knew the answer. Morgan looked at him with red eyes. "Ellie! She shot you! Both of you! She can't hurt you! Not you!"

Greg pulled her close while exchanging a worried look with Ecklie.

"Honey, Ellie's not gonna hurt us," Ecklie softly said. He and Greg now both understood what Morgan's nightmares had been about. Instead of reliving her own kidnapping and getting shot herself, she dreamed that he and Greg were the ones getting hurt.

"Yeah, Morgan, she is safely locked up in jail!" Greg agreed with her father.

"But… what is she escapes? Or what if someone else tries to hurt you?" Tears were still running down her face. Greg carefully wiped them away. "We're both very careful, Morgan, we always are! Your Dad has bodyguards whenever he goes to a public event and around here, we have plenty of cops to protect us! And ever since that slaughter house thing I'm more careful than ever! I kinda like my life, so I wasn't planning on letting someone take it away… Especially not since you're with me…"

He had added that last bit very soft, afraid Russell might hear him. Their supervisor was standing in the doorway with a worried look on his face.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" Morgan started crying again, but it wasn't her hysterical crying anymore. "I didn't mean to break down like this… I'm sorry!"

"Morgan, stop saying…" Greg started. Ecklie quickly interrupted him: "I don't wanna hear that again, do you hear me? You have nothing to be sorry about! You've been through a lot, so it's only normal you're not yourself yet. And it would be nice if you finally admitted that yourself instead of just pretending you're fine!"

It seemed like she wanted to cry even more after her father's words, but then she gave him a small nod. "Okay… You're right… I'm not fine… I need more time…"

"And I'll give you that time."

All three of them turned their heads towards Russell. He looked at Morgan. "You're going home now and I don't wanna see you here again until you feel yourself that you can handle your job again. I don't care if it's tomorrow or next week or next month… You need to be okay again! And when you come back and something happens that makes you feel not fine again, then come and talk to me, okay? I can't help you if I don't know what's going on!"

"Okay," Morgan softly agreed. "Thanks, Russell."

"Good. Now, let Greg take you home and let him stay with you for a while," Russell said. "I'm sure he won't mind!"

Greg immediately turned away from his supervisor, but Morgan grabbed his hand with a smile on her face. "I don't mind if he stays with me either…"

Russell smiled a little as well. "I figured as much… Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and deal with someone else who hasn't been fine lately. Hodges!"

He left the breakroom and disappeared out of sight. Greg looked at Ecklie. "Did you tell him about us?"

"No, I didn't, but I have no doubt he managed to figure it out himself," Ecklie replied. "Don't worry about it, if he's giving you trouble, I'll deal with it. Now go home, both of you, and get some nightmare-free sleep!"

Morgan smiled at him. "I think that'll work now… Thanks. I don't know why I suddenly started dreaming about you two getting hurt instead of me…"

Greg gave her a warm smile. "I think I do…"

Ecklie nodded to show his agreement with Greg. To both of them it made sense that Morgan had been having nightmares about them getting hurt. After all, they were the two men she loved most, more than she even cared about herself.

**Hope you guys liked it! Don't forget to watch the next CSI episode - episode 300!**


	7. Remembering the past

**Did everyone watch episode 300? :D I thought it was quite a good episode, but of course it could have used a little more Morganders/Grody! ;)**

**So here's a story that goes with that episode - some minor spoilers, some things might make more sense if you've actually seen the episode.**

**Enjoy! :)**

_**Chapter 7 - Remembering the past**_

Morgan waited outside the evidence locker for Greg. She saw him approaching with Sara, laughing and talking, which made her smile. She knew he and Sara had been friends for years and that they were still very close. She also knew that Greg used to have a crush on Sara, but that he was long over it. He loved her, more than anyone else in the world.

When Sara and Greg had nearly reached her, Morgan stepped forward.

"Hey," she smiled. "Did you put everything away?"

Greg nodded to confirm, while Sara added: "We even found something else very interesting… Right, Greg?"

Greg forced a polite smile. "Yeah…"

"Have you ever told her about it?" Sara wanted to know.

"What?" Morgan asked curiously.

"Well…" Sara started, but Greg quickly interrupted her: "Yes, I've told her once and that was more than enough! Can you please go home now so you can't embarrass me any further?"

Sara grinned at Morgan. "I know when I'm not welcome anymore! See you guys tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow," Morgan answered with a smile. She waited till Sara was out of sight before she wrapped her arms around Greg. "So, what do you say, ex-DNA lab tech? How about you come over to my place and I make you dinner?"

"I'd say that sounds really good, Miss All Star CSI!" Greg whispered back, giving her a quick, passionate kiss. Morgan blushed shyly. "Doc told you?"

"He seems to think he has to tell me everything that involves you," Greg admitted. "I have no idea why, though…" he added teasingly.

"No, me neither…" Morgan grinned before kissing him again.

A few hours later they were lying on a blanket in Morgan's backyard watching the stars. Morgan crawled a little closer up to Greg, one of her arms around him. She looked up at him and smiled. "I love being here with you…"

"And I love being here with you!" he smiled back at her. She rested her head on his chest again and looked up at the stars. "Must be crazy for you… Solving a case after fourteen years!"

Greg shrugged a little. "Yeah, I guess, but it wasn't really my case back then, if you know what I mean. I was still a DNA tech, dreaming about being out in the field once. I just processed one piece of evidence after another and tried to learn as much as I could. Catherine always taught me the little things, things I had missed before. She was… just amazing!"

Morgan smiled. "Yeah, she was… I still miss her sometimes, even though I've only worked with her for a while. You must miss her even more!"

"Yeah, I really do!"

They were silent for a few moments. Then Greg suddenly asked: "What about you fourteen years ago? You already know I was working as a DNA tech, but what about you? Were you working for the police already or…"

He looked at her, waiting for an answer. She rolled onto her back and stared at the sky, trying to remember what she had been doing fourteen years ago.

"You were about twenty-one back then, weren't you?" Greg tried to help her. She groaned, suddenly remembering everything. "Yeah! Not exactly the best time of my life… You see, I was supposed to visit my father once a month until I was twenty-one. Not eighteen, no, but twenty-one. I hated it! Every month again I argued with my mother about not going. I tried every trick in the book, but no matter what I said or did, I still had to go! I remember this one time, about two months before I would turn twenty-one. I had gotten invited to this party back home, but I couldn't go, because I had to visit my Dad… Man, I was so angry!"

She grinned a little at the thought of how angry she had been. Now, she just called it ridiculous, especially since she and her Dad had grown close again.

"Anyway, I took off from my Dad's house almost immediately after I had gotten there," she continued her story. "Whenever I was in Vegas, I always visited this coffee place just of Fremont Street. When I moved back here, I went to find it, but it's closed now. It was called Cappuccino Palace, do you know it?"

Greg sat up with a big smile on his face. "Of course I do! It had _the_ best coffee in the world! I use to go there like five times a week!"

Morgan smiled. "Really? Maybe I even saw you there once then! Although you should be lucky you didn't see me there the last time I visited the place. It was definitely not a pretty picture…"

_Morgan angrily turned away from the counter when she recognized the voice that had called out her name._

"_Just leave me alone, okay?" she snapped at her father. "I'm almost twenty-one, you can't tell me what or what not to do!"_

"_I'm still your father, M, so yes, I can tell you what and what not to do," her father reminded her._

"_Don't call me M!" she shouted at him. She grabbed her coffee cup, turning around so quickly she nearly bumped into a young guy. Since her mother had always taught her to be polite, she murmured an apology before walking over to a table. Of course her father followed her._

"_Come on, Morgan, there's only two visits left after this one!" he said. "I know I probably won't see you anymore after that, so please give me a little bit of the time we have left together…"_

"_Why would I wanna spend any time with you?" She shook her head. "After what you've done to Mum? If the judge hadn't said I had to I wouldn't spend any time with you at all! I never thought I could hate someone, but you definitely changed my mind. You're the most horrible person I've ever met!"_

"_From what I hear and see, you're not exactly easy to be around either," her father commented, looking angry himself now. "Your mother lets you get away with everything, you can buy everything you want, you get to do everything you want… except for staying at home when it's my weekend. And then I'm the bad guy around here?"_

"_Sure, blame me it on me again!" Morgan jumped up, feeling more annoyed than she had ever felt before. "When are you finally gonna admit that you're the one who made the mistakes? Not me, you! And whenever someone confronts you with it, you blame it on the other person! Is that what you do at work too? Because then your colleagues must really love you!"_

_The sarcasm was all over her last sentence._

"_You can't talk to me like that, young lady!" her father warned her._

"_Oh, no? I can't? You just heard me!" she shouted angrily. "And you deserve every word of it! And this is something else you deserve!"_

_Before he had realized what she was going to do, she had thrown her coffee into his face, also covering the guy sitting behind him. She snapped a "Sorry" at him, realizing in the back of her mind it was the same guy she had nearly bumped into before, before storming out of the café. She felt honestly sorry for the guy – now she thought about it, he had had a very sweet smile – but she didn't feel sorry for her father. Like she had said, he deserved it!_

Morgan grinned to herself. "Unbelievable… Can you imagine me doing something like that? I still hope my Dad doesn't remember it, but I'm afraid he still does… Unbelievable that he doesn't hate me!"

She looked up since Greg still hadn't respond. He was looking back at her, his eyes with an unusual spark of enthusiasm in them.

"That guy…" he started. "That guy in the coffee place, the one you nearly bumped into and the one you also covered in coffee… What did he look like?"

She frowned her eyebrows together. "I… don't know anymore. I didn't really remember him since I was so angry with my Dad. He had a sweet smile, that's all I still know, but I have no idea what he looked like anymore!"

"You don't?" He was nearly shouting the words in his enthusiasm. "But I do! Morgan, that guy was me! I still remember! I was the guy you also covered in coffee, the guy you almost bumped into! Don't look at me like that, I'm sure of it! You know why? Because the next day at work I met your father for the first time, right before he took that case away from Catherine and Sara. I remember agreeing with Sara about him being a complete jerk and then I remembered him from the coffee place. I thought he had indeed deserved that coffee splash then…"

Smiling, Morgan shook her head. "Now _this_ is unbelievable! We met fourteen years ago? And the first time we met I covered you in coffee? Now there's a great start for a relationship!"

Grinning, Greg pulled her back into his arms.

"I don't think we're doing all that bad," he told her with a smile before kissing here so warm and passionately that Morgan immediately forgot the memory she had just told Greg everything about.


	8. The most important person

**Wow, so many reviews after the last chapter, glad you liked the story so much!  
For this chapter, I was of course trying to come up with something related to episode 14x06, but this is pretty much all I could think so. Hopefully next week's episode will be more of an inspiration and from the promo, it looks like it's going to be! :D**

**Enjoy this chapter for now!**

_**Chapter 8 - The most important person**_

When Morgan arrived at Greg's house, she let out a sigh of relief. Finally! Working with someone from dayshift had turned out not to be so bad, but she still preferred working with someone from her own team and then one person in particular: Greg. Lately it seemed, though, that Russell didn't want them to work together anymore as he always teamed her up with everyone but Greg. But now she was finally at home and ready to spend some time with one of the two men she loved most.

"Greg?" she called out.

"I'm in the kitchen!"

With a smile she walked over to the kitchen, finding him behind the stove. A rush of happiness shot through her body when she saw him standing there. She had really missed him!

"Hey," she greeted him, wrapping her arms around him. He pulled her close and greeted her back with a long, loving kiss. "Hey yourself… So, you made it through your day? Working with a guy from dayshift?"

"He's not that bad," she told him. "And we managed to solve our case, that's what matters in the end, right?"

He softly whistled. "_Our_ case? No more 'your case' or 'my case', but _our_ case?"

"Come on, give him a break!" she said with a small smile. "Or at least give me a break! I wasn't around when that whole dayshift / nightshift war started between my Dad and Grissom!"

"Just for the record: I wasn't a CSI back then either," Greg reminded her. She smiled at him. "Alright, you're forgiven then! I'm just a little surprised that you're making such a big deal out of this…"

Suddenly she understood. "Ah, you're jealous!"

"No, I'm not!" he started, but when she kept looking at him, he admitted: "Fine, maybe a little… I feel way too lucky to be your boyfriend, I'm just always afraid you're gonna realize I'm not good enough for you and run off with some other guy…"

She looked at him with a serious look in her eyes. "Greg, you are _the best_. I've never had a better boyfriend than you and I never will as I wanna be with you forever, you hear me? You have nothing to worry about!"

"It's just that," he started again, but this time he was interrupted by Morgan's cell phone going off. She checked the caller ID.

"Oh, it's my Dad," she saw. "Do you mind?"

"No, go ahead!" he said and stepped back to give her some privacy. With a smile she answered her phone: "Hey, Dad!"

"Hey, M! I just wanted to check in and ask what it was like to work with someone from dayshift."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you start as well! What is it between dayshift and nightshift? And why is swing shift never involved? I just don't get it!"

"I'm afraid I'm the one to blame," her father confessed. He started telling her stories about the rivalry between him and Grissom. Somewhere halfway through a story Morgan saw Greg waving at her. He signed that he was going to bed. She nodded at him before turning her full attention to her Dad on the phone again. It wasn't until after the call had ended that she realized he had started to say something. She quickly went upstairs, but he seemed fast asleep already. Quietly, she went back downstairs to the kitchen. The stove was out, but the pans were still on them. When she checked them, she realized Greg had been cooking dinner and by the looks of it, a fancy dinner for the two of them.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry!" she whispered. She now also knew what he had tried to tell her: he felt like they didn't spend enough time together. They hardly saw each other at work anymore and when they did, they still had to remain as professional as possible. Often enough they had to work longer, which meant they had less time to spend together at home. And when they already had some time to be together, they were often interrupted by phone calls from either Russell, who needed one or both of them at work, or her Dad.

"This is gonna change, I promise you that, sweetie," she whispered to herself. She loved him too much to just watch him drift away from her!

As soon as she arrived at CSI the next day, she went to look for her father.

"Dad, we need to talk," she started. "You know I love you, but I also love Greg and I can't show him that enough now."

Her father frowned. "I don't need that many details about your relationship…"

She shook her head. "I'm not talking about that, I just meant that we hardly have any time left to be together! And that's your fault as well!"

"Mine?"

"Yes!" she nodded. "Like I said, I love you, Dad, but you don't have to call me every day! I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself and if something's wrong or I feel like talking to you more, I'll call you, I promise! But Greg seems to be feeling really left out now!"

Her father gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, M, I didn't mean to give Greg that feeling! I think he's a great guy, I honestly like him. And I can see how much he cares about you. So, is there anything else I can do except stop calling you every day?"

With a smile, she sat down. "Actually, there is… Do you remember that little cottage we used to go to in the woods when I was little?"

* * *

At the end of shift, Greg went to collect his things from his locker as usual. On his way to the locker room, he checked if he saw Morgan anywhere, but he couldn't find her.

"Hey, Sara," he greeted his colleague in the locker room. "Do you happen to know where Morgan is?"

"Oh, I think she already left," Sara told him. "I saw her talking to Russell a few hours ago and then she spent the rest of shift in our office, talking on the phone. I think she left around forty-five minutes ago…"

"Right." He was unable to hide his disappointment. "Thanks, Sara, I'll see you tomorrow."

He felt so bad about Morgan leaving without saying a word that he didn't notice Sara's mischievous smile. With his head bent down he left CSI and walked over to his car. To his surprise, he found a note under the wind shield.

"_Set your navigation system to the address below. Trust me. X"_

He recognized the handwriting as Morgan's, so he immediately put the address in his navigation system and started driving. He had never heard of the address, but he soon realized he was leaving the city. After a forty-five minute drive the navigation system said he was nearly there. While still paying close attention to the road, he looked around. He was somewhere in the woods, which seemed like the middle of nowhere. When the navigation system told him he had reached his destination, he frowned. This was his destination? Somewhere in the middle of the woods? Suddenly, he saw a flickering light between the trees. He carefully got out of his car, locked it and started to make his way towards the light. Even before he had reached it, he saw a little cottage with Morgan standing in the doorway.

"What do you think?" she smiled, pointing at the campfire just a few feet away from the cottage. "My parents and I used to come here when I was little, it's ours. And the best bit about it is that there is absolutely no telephone service!"

She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I talked to Russell and he agreed, with a little pressure from my Dad I have to admit, to give us both a few days off. The next few days it's just gonna be me and you, right here in the middle of nowhere with no phones, no interruptions, no nothing! I did bring food, though, in case you were wondering about that."

"And what about clothes?" he wanted to know. He was already shivering in his thin shirt. With her most seductive look she looked at him. "There is heating inside, so we won't be cold in there… And if we're still cold, we'll just have to hold each other close, I guess…"

He just gave her enough time to finish her sentence before his lips had already found hers. She quickly pulled him inside the cottage with her, closing the door with her foot. To Greg's relief, there was indeed heating inside the cottage, so he had no problem with Morgan tossing his shirt aside.

"I love you, Greg," she said in between kisses. "I always will, I promise! And I'm sorry if I gave you the feeling that you weren't the most important person in my life anymore, because you really are! I hope I can make it up to you now…"

"Well," he said, pulling her a little closer with his hands on her back, "we're off to a good start, but I haven't quite forgiven you yet…"

Smiling, she allowed him to pull off her shirt and then pull her close again. Her shirt landed right next to his in front of the window, through which the slowly dying down campfire was visible.


	9. Frustration

**Hey guys, I know it's been a while since I last updated this story, but I was kinda lost for a while, inspiration-wise (is that even a word?). I already knew I wanted to do a story based on 14x07, but the writers didn't really give me much to work with, except for a very obvious 'Morgan is worried about Greg'-story.  
****This is what I finally came up with, I hope you like it! And for those of you wondering: I already have the idea for the next story, which won't be based on a CSI episode. If work allows it, I'll try to post it here before the next CSI episode airs!**

**Enjoy!**

_**Chapter 9 - Frustration**_

Something was going on, she just knew it. Everyone seemed to stop talking whenever she entered a room and the looks they gave her were just full of… Yeah, full of what? Concern? Pity? She didn't know, all she knew, was that something was going on.

She had tried to talk to her Dad about it, but he had just smiled and told her he was really busy. Russell had told her everything was fine, but she could tell he was lying. Finn had been avoiding her all night, Sara had been dealing with the whole bomb thing and her case…

Morgan suddenly realized her frustration about no one telling her anything had turned into anger. Why wouldn't anyone tell her what was going on? And where the heck had Greg been all night? He hadn't responded to any of her texts, whenever she went looking for him, he always seemed to be hiding… Hodges and Henry had been no help either: they had just given her a little smile and told her they hadn't seen Greg.

She did know that whatever was going on had something to do with Greg. Everyone knew about their relationship by now, so the strange looks and whispering had to mean that the thing that was going on was about Greg. But what?

When the end of shift finally arrived, she still didn't know. She decided to try one more time to find Greg and then go home.

"Hey, Sara, do you know where Greg is?" she asked.

"Last time I saw him, he was in the locker room, but that was about ten minutes ago already," Sara told her.

"Thanks!" Morgan turned around and walked over to the locker room, which was of course now empty. She quickly continued towards the reception desk, planning to ask if anyone had seen him leave, but to her surprise, she found her Dad talking to the girl behind the desk.

"Thank you," she heard him say to the girl. She quickened her pace to catch him before he took off.

"Hey!" she said. "What was that about?"

"Oh, I just gave her a package to send with the rest of the mail," he told her. "Just some official business, nothing special."

He looked at her. "How are you doing?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Her father shrugged his shoulders. "Just how are you doing, that's all."

He was definitely lying, but she knew he wouldn't tell her the truth anyway, so she just asked him if he had seen Greg.

"Yeah, I just saw him leaving with Finn, I think they were going to get something to eat," he said. She didn't immediately respond. He had gone out for breakfast with Finn? What on earth was going on? She hid her anger from her Dad and just smiled at him. "Thanks. See you later."

"Morgan!" he called after her. She turned around and looked at him. He gave her a small smile. "Just between you and me: I've always believed in him. He's a great guy, a great CSI and I'm really proud of him. I never even thought for a second he could have done something wrong."

She nodded, but she hardly understood anything of what he had just said. Yeah, she knew her father thought very highly of her boyfriend, but why was he saying that now? She decided to stop thinking about it and just go home. Maybe a couple of hours of sleep would help.

A few hours after she had fallen asleep, she suddenly woke up, feeling someone shaking her shoulder. To her relief, it was Greg. He smiled warmly at her. "Hey! Sorry I woke you up, but I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what has been going on at work earlier today?" She couldn't help but sound annoyed. Luckily, he understood.

"I'm sorry," he immediately said. "I didn't want you to find out what was going on, cause I didn't want you to worry. Plus, I felt… ashamed…"

She frowned. "Ashamed? Why?"

He sighed before he final explained: "I was being accused of planting evidence."

She shot straight up. "What? Who said that? Why would they say something like that? You'd never do that! How can they say that?"

He waved his hands to make her stop talking. "Let me explain, okay?"

She leaned back, but still ready to shoot back up again and take on anyone who would say something like that about her boyfriend. How dared they do this to him? He was always the one who worked the hardest and most careful out of anyone, just because he was so afraid of doing something wrong. She quietly listened while he told her about everything that had happened during their shift.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," she finally said. "Because a stupid police officer was curious, you could have lost your job! You should have told me, I could have helped!"

"I doubt they would have let you," he said. "But it's okay, Morgan, I'm ready to get back to work and my name has been cleared. And like I said: I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry and… because it just felt so weird… I couldn't remember what exactly I had done and how I had done it and they kept asking me questions… Just the thought of doing something wrong while I worked so hard to be where I am, it just…"

"Frustrated you?" she finished his sentence for him. He looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, exactly."

She pulled him into her arms for a hug.

"It's okay, I understand," she whispered in his ear. "And you were probably right about not telling me. I think if you would have told me, I would have done some things that wouldn't have been exactly right for a CSI to do…"

Smiling, he kissed her, knowing that she'd indeed do anything to help and protect him.

"I love you," he softly told her.

"I love you too," she whispered back. "But… Greg?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't ever doubt yourself again," she told him with a serious look on her face. "You're an amazing CSI, you really are! Even my Dad thinks so!"

"He's probably just saying that because I'm dating you," he said, lying down next to her. He rolled onto his side to look at her. "If he said anything else, you'd probably just get angry at him!"

She immediately shook her head. "No! Yeah, I would get angry at him if he said things about you that weren't true, but he really meant what he said. He's really proud of you, Greg, honestly. I don't think he'll ever tell you, though, but he really is. The sheriff of Las Vegas doesn't believe you could have planted evidence. He never believed it for one second. That should mean something, right? The sheriff of Las Vegas thinks you're a great CSI."

With a smile, Greg rolled onto his back. "That does sound good, yeah… 'The sheriff of Las Vegas thinks I'm a great CSI'. Hmm… Very interesting…"

Laughing, she rolled her eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have told you, you're just gonna get all arrogant about it now!"

Laughing as well, he turned back towards her again.

"I'll try to control myself, okay?" he promised her. Grinning, she nodded. "Deal! Now can we get back to sleep?"

"I actually had something else in mind…" he said with a mysterious grin. Thinking she knew what he was talking about, she already prepared herself for his first kiss, but to her surprise, he pulled her out of bed.

"Let's go for a walk!" he said. "Come on, I'm full of energy! I'm still a CSI, I didn't lose my job… Let's go out for a while!"

"It's the middle of the night!" she protested.

"The sun is shining…"

"For us it's the middle of the night," she said, rolling her eyes. He gave her a sad look. "Please? For me? Pretty, pretty please?"

Unable to resist those begging eyes she started laughing. "Fine, we'll go out for a walk! But if I fall asleep during tonight's shift, I'm blaming you!"

Grinning, he pulled her out of bed. "I'll be happy to take the blame!"


	10. Dax

**This story is for all my Twitter Morganders / Grody friends (Rose, Quentasia, scarlet mercado, April S Kale and Morgory Branders), but especially for leaAmindalan, who suggested I'd include Dax into a story. For those of you who don't know who Dax is: he's Eric Szmanda's real life dog.  
****So, here we go: a story including Dax, hope you guys like it! :)**

**_Chapter 10 - Dax_  
**

"Did I ever mention that I love you?" Smiling, Morgan looked up at Greg. He grinned back at her. "Only thirty times during the last hour! But go ahead, you can say it again!"

With a guilty smile on her face, she looked down.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just so happy your name got cleared and you can still do your job!"

He gently squeezed her hand and smiled at her. "Me, too."

Both smiling they continued their walk through Morgan's neighborhood. So far, it had been a typical Vegas day with loads of sunshine, but in spite of the heat, they tightly held each other's hand and walked close to each other.

"I love you too, by the way," Greg said after they had walked another fifty feet. "Just so you know…"

Morgan grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I know…"

She then stopped him and looked at him. "I've been thinking about us for a while now, Greg, and there's something I want to talk to you about."

Immediately, a worried look appeared on Greg's face. "You're not gonna break up with me, are you?"

"No, no!" she quickly called out. "Of course not! I was actually thinking in the… opposite direction… You know, spending more time together… I thought that maybe we could… move in together…"

"Move in together?" he repeated.

"Yeah…" she hesitantly nodded. "Unless you think it's too soon…"

"No, I… Oh my God!" He suddenly ran away, leaving her completely stunned on the sidewalk. She turned around to see where he was going. He had run up to a dumpster at the far end of the street.

"You know that we usually search dumpsters _during_ shifts, not after or before them?" she called after him. He didn't respond, he just kneeled down next to the dumpster. When she looked closer, she saw he was touching some blonde hair. She immediately rushed over to him, alarmed as well now, and found him petting a dog.

"Oh my gosh, look at him!" she softly said, tears already appearing in her eyes. The dog seemed hardly able to move, it was obvious he had been beaten up badly. He looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks and his fur was full of dirt and knots.

"We gotta get him to an animal hospital!" Greg said, his eyes on the dog.

"How? We're an hour away from our house, we can't carry him all that way back!" Morgan reminded him. "Did you bring your cell phone?"

"No, I left it at home, did you?" he asked, still not taking his eyes off of the dog.

"No, we left in such a hurry I didn't have time to take it," she said, already looking around to see if there was a payphone somewhere. Of course there wasn't, all she saw, were houses.

"I'm gonna ring a doorbell and ask whoever opens if I can use their phone," she decided. "I'll be right back!"

She ran to the first front door she saw and rang the doorbell. Luckily, the owner of the house didn't mind her using his phone and gave her the chance to call 911. The person she spoke to promised to send an animal ambulance as soon as possible.

"Thank you," Morgan said before hanging up. She repeated the words to the owner of the house and then ran back to Greg and the dog. "How is he doing?"

Greg shook his head. "He's just looking at me without moving, I don't know what to do! He's probably hungry and thirsty, but I have nothing to give him! Maybe we shouldn't even give him anything… What do you think?"

"The animal ambulance should be here soon, let's just wait," Morgan decided. She got up to see if the ambulance was near already. Only a few minutes later she heard a siren and then the ambulance drove into the street. Greg quickly explained the situation to the paramedic, even though Morgan had already told the person on the phone everything.

"We're gonna take him to the animal hospital," the paramedic decided. "If you want, you two can come along."

"Definitely!" Greg said right away before looking at Morgan. "Or don't you wanna come?"

"Of course I do, I'm not leaving him!" she said. She looked at the poor dog, which was being lifted into the ambulance. A little scared, she looked back at Greg. "I really hope he's going to be okay…"

At the animal hospital, they were told to wait while the vet examined the dog.

"He wasn't wearing a collar," Greg remembered. "Do you think he's a street dog?"

"I don't know… He could be, but maybe he used to belong to a family who got tired of having to take care of a dog and they just sent him out onto the street," Morgan softly said. "It's sad how much that happens… People get a dog, but they forget about the responsibilities…"

"I could never forget about them," Greg said. "You know, when I was a kid, I always wanted to have a dog, but my Mum thought it was too dangerous. She was afraid the dog would bite me or that I would get sick if I had to walk him in the rain… I had to settle for a pet goldfish…"

Morgan grinned. "You must have loved that…"

Greg grinned as well. "Yeah, it was quite the thrill…"

He looked carefully at her. "You know, if the dog really is homeless, they're probably gonna need someone to look after him…"

She already knew where he was going.

"Greg, how are we going to take care of a dog with our job?" she protested.

"Nick has a dog, he's doing fine," Greg reminded her. She immediately fell silent. Yeah, Nick was doing great with Sam… She loved the ex-police dog, he was great and every time Nick brought him to work, it made her smile. But having her own dog…

"I think Dax would be a nice name," Greg continued. She raised her eyebrows. "Dax? How did you come up with that?"

"Well, I was thinking that if we have a dog together, it should have a name that is both yours and mine," he started. "And whenever I think of you, I still think about LA. LA's airport is called LAX, but then I would change the first letter into a D, because we're talking about a dog's name. So, LAX becomes Dax… Get it?"

"Yeah, I get it," she slowly nodded. "It's… well… interesting…"

"Oh, come on, Morgan, our own dog!" He gave her his best begging look, the one he knew she couldn't resist. "It would be so much fun! Walking him together, having him with us in the kitchen to eat his meal while we're eating at the table… It could be the start of our own family…"

She groaned, knowing she had no choice but to give in.

"Fine, we'll get the dog!" she said. "You're right, it'll be fun! I love dogs too, it would be nice to have our own."

"Yes!" He lifted her of the ground and turned around with her while holding her tightly. Exactly at that moment, the doctor entered the waiting room.

"Should I come back later?" he asked with a smile. Blushing, Greg put Morgan down. "No, it's fine. How is he doing?"

"First of all, the dog's indeed a he," the doctor said. "And he's going to be fine! He does have a broken paw, several bruises and he hasn't had anything to eat or drink in a while, but I can see he's strong and he won't give up easily. Give him a few weeks and he'll be as good as new!"

Greg and Morgan both smiled at each other.

"That's great to hear!" Greg said. He looked at Morgan and then back at the doctor. "Actually we decided we'd like to keep him and take care of him. If that's possible of course. We noticed he wasn't wearing a collar."

"That's right, but I'm afraid it's not gonna be that easy," the doctor said. "The dog has to stay in an animal shelter for at least two weeks so his rightful owner has the time to pick him up. We'll send out the dog's information and then his owner can report to the shelter."

Greg's happy smile disappeared. "Oh…"

The doctor shook his head. "I doubt it'll happen, though, especially if we include our bill in the information."

"The bill?" Morgan repeated.

"Yeah, since we had to operate, the owner will have to pay us quite a few dollars," the doctor nodded. "Which means if you two adopt him, I'll have to hand the bill over to you…"

Hesitantly, Greg looked at Morgan.

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "I already have an idea!"

* * *

"Hey Dad, you busy?" With her biggest smile she stepped into her father's office.

"Always, but for you I've always got time," he smiled back. She grinned a little. "Aw… Thanks, Dad! Hey, is that a new suit? It looks great!"

Her father narrowed his eyes. "Alright, what do you need and how much is it gonna cost me?"

Still grinning she sat down. "That was a bit obvious, wasn't it? Alright, I'll tell you. You see, Greg and I have been talking about adding someone to our family, but there's a bit of a price tag attached to it…"

Her father sat up a little straighter. "Adding someone to your family? Are you trying to tell me that you are… You two have only been going out for a few months!"

"No, Dad, I'm not pregnant," she reassured him. "But it's nice to know where you stand… No, we're thinking about adopting this dog we found…"

She told him everything about Dax, including his medical bill. Her father sighed. "A dog? Really? You sure that's gonna work?"

"Nick has a dog, he's doing fine!" she reminded him. "Greg already talked to him and he gave us some great advice. Come on, Dad, it's our choice, we wanna adopt him! We just need a little financial support now, that's all."

Her father sighed again. "You're right, it's your choice. Just don't call me in the middle of the night: 'Dad, it's raining, can you walk the dog?', okay?"

She smiled at him. "Deal! Thanks a million, Dad, it really means a lot to us!"

"I'm sure it does," her father nodded. "Now let's just hope his owner doesn't show up!"

That was exactly what Morgan hoped as well. She and Greg spent two weeks waiting, scared of every phone call they got. Every minute seemed an hour and by the time the two weeks were nearly over, they both felt like they had been waiting for over a year. They had visited Dax every day and luckily, he was doing much better already.

Finally, the two weeks had passed and the vet called them.

"No one reported him- or herself as the dog's owner," he told them. "Congratulations, he's yours!"

"Yes!" Greg pulled Morgan into his arms and hugged her tightly. "He's ours, Dax is really ours!"

She started laughing, mostly because of his enthusiasm.

"If you put me down now, we can pick him up before shift starts," she then said. He immediately let her go and grabbed his car keys. "Well, come on, let's go then!"

Smiling, she followed him to his car. She loved seeing how enthusiastic he was about the dog coming to live with him. She really liked Dax moving in with them as well, but she loved seeing Greg this happy even more.


	11. Through True being a CSI

**Thanks for all your reviews on the last story, glad you guys liked it! :D  
****This story takes place after episode 14x08, which is definitely one of my fave episodes this season. I just loved the Greg/Morgan scenes, they were so sweet together! This story is based on the last scene of the episode, when Morgan talks to Tyler, Dawn's son. I hope you like it! :)**

_**Chapter 11 - Through / True being a CSI**_

"Aw, he looks so cute!" Sara smiled at Greg after he had shown her picture of Dax, the dog he and Morgan had adopted a little while ago. "I really wanna meet him now! Did he and Sam already meet up?"

"No, we haven't been able to find a date yet," Greg said. "We…"

He was interrupted by his phone. After checking the caller ID, he answered with a smile: "Hey, sweetie!"

"Greg…"

His smile disappeared when he heard Morgan's broken voice. "Morgan, what's wrong?"

He heard her sobbing on the other end of the line. Automatically he held his phone a little tighter, as if it would help him comfort his girlfriend. "Where are you?"

"At home…"

"I'll be right there!" He hung up, looked at Sara, who already nodded, and then stormed towards the locker room to get his car keys.

"Drive safely, you're no help if you get hurt yourself!" Sara called after him. He growled inarticulately, even though he knew she was right. It took him all of his self-control to actually remain calm and stick to the traffic rules, his annoyance growing with every red light.

Finally, he reached Morgan's house. He barely gave himself time to park his car and lock it before storming up to the house. The door was closed, but not locked, so he could immediately run inside.

"Morgan?" he called. "Morgan, where are you?"

"Here…"

He ran into the living room and jumped down onto the couch to hug his girlfriend, who was crying hysterically. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this anymore, I just can't!" she sobbed. "I can't…"

"What? What can't you do anymore?" He gently rubbed her back to try and comfort her, ignoring the wet spots on his shirt.

"This… Our job!" she cried. "I just… I can't do it anymore!"

He looked at her, surprised. "Where is this coming from? Is this because of what happened to Dawn?"

Because she kept crying, he took that as a 'yes'. He pulled her back into a hug. "Dawn is going to be fine again, sweetie, you know she is!"

She shook her head. "That's not it! I… I talked to her son Tyler at the hospital… He said… he said that… he was done… With everything, with everyone else… He's right, Greg, but it's about me! I'm done being a CSI, I'm done with everything we have to deal with and with everyone messing with us! I can't take it anymore! I've just had enough!"

She started crying again. Greg pulled her even closer and kissed her on top of her head. "Ssh… It's going to be okay, I promise! Come on, I'll get you a glass of water! Would you like me to make you something to eat?"

"No!"

Her anger surprised her.

"No, I don't want anything!" she called out while the tears still ran down her face. "I'm just done, okay? Through… Enough…"

Greg wrapped his arms tightly around her and just held her. He rubbed her back every few seconds, gently rocked her back and forth and waited patiently until she calmed down. With red eyes she looked at him. "You probably think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"No," he softly said. "But I think Dax is…"

To his relief, she showed him the beautiful smile he loved so much.

"I'm not crazy, Dax, don't worry," she told the dog, who had been quietly watching from a corner all that time. "I'm just… tired, I guess. Can we please go to bed?"

"Of course," he immediately responded. She looked at him. "Will you hold me?"

"All night," he promised. "I love you, Morgan!"

"I love you too!"

The next day Morgan seemed much better again. She refused to stay at home, in spite of what she had said yesterday. Yet, whenever Greg checked on her, he saw she wasn't working with her usual enthusiasm and determination. When he noticed how pale her face actually was, he decided it was time to do something. He turned around and walked straight to the sheriff's office.

"Greg, come on in!" he happily said. "What can I do for you today?"

"It's about Morgan," Greg started. He told her about Dawn, something Ecklie of course already knew, and about Morgan's reaction yesterday.

"I think she needs some time off again," he finally said. "You know I don't like asking you for these things, but do you think you could arrange for us both to get some time off? I actually wanna take her back to LA since she's always complaining Vegas doesn't have an ocean…"

He smiled a little. "I just thought it'd be fun to take her there…"

"Done," Ecklie nodded. "You start planning your trip, I'll make sure you both get the time off you need."

"Thanks," Greg smiled. He started leaving the office already, but Ecklie called him back. He seriously looked at the young CSI. "She's lucky to have you, Greg. She's been through so much lately that I'm actually not surprised that she feels she's through. I'm glad you're looking out for her, Greg, I really mean that."

A little shy, Greg smiled again before he left the office. He couldn't wait till shift was over and he could start planning their trip to LA. Taking Morgan away from Vegas for a while would definitely do her good, he was convinced of that for the full hundred percent.

Only two weeks later he and Morgan were on a plane to LA. Since Nick was still busy with his special training, Sara had offered to look after Dax, so they didn't have to worry about him during their trip.

"We'll get to see the place we named him after!" Greg grinned on the plane.

"Yeah…"

With his eyebrows raised up high Greg looked at Morgan. "You don't sound very excited…"

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Greg. I'm really happy you're doing this for me, honestly! I was just wondering… Do you think we could visit my old colleagues? I just wanna see them again."

"Sure," Greg nodded, a little surprised. "If that's what you want, we'll go and visit them!"

As soon as they had checked into their hotel, Morgan wanted to go and visit her ex-colleagues. They took a taxi to the LA police department, where Morgan explained who she was. Minutes later, a woman showed up at the reception desk.

"Morgan!" she called out. "Good to see you!"

The two women hugged before Morgan introduced the other woman: "Greg, this is Karen, one of my old colleagues. Karen, this is Greg, my boyfriend. He's also a CSI."

"Nice to meet you, Greg," Karen said, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you too," Greg nodded. Karen turned back to Morgan. "So, are you just visiting or are you here to help us?"

"What are you working on?" Morgan curiously asked. Karen quickly told them about the case she was working on: a woman had been found dead in her own bed at her own house. All the evidence pointed to her husband, yet he kept insisting he hadn't killed his wife. Karen and her colleague had discovered their sixteen-year-old daughter had been at home during the murder, but she refused to talk about what had happened.

"Were they having a bad marriage?" Morgan wanted to know. "I mean, does the husband have a reason to kill his wife?"

"Who cares? The evidence says he did it, he just won't confess!" Karen said. Greg saw Morgan frowning. He was surprised himself as well. Grissom had always taught him that motive was just as important as the rest of the evidence, didn't Karen know that?

"We're about to talk to the daughter again, to see if she finally wants to talk about what she saw," Karen said. "You're welcome to watch!"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Morgan nodded.

"Come on then!"

Karen brought them to the other side of the mirror window, so they could watch the interrogation. They both saw a girl being brought into the room with three ear rings in each ear, a nose ring and wild red hair. Karen barely gave her the time to sit down, she immediately started asking questions. After a few minutes Morgan turned to Greg. "What's she doing? She's practically forcing the girl to confess her father killed her mother! There's no way she's going to say anything! Look how upset she is, in spite of her tough appearance! The girl has just lost her mother and her father might have to go to jail… Can't they give her a break?"

"Not exactly how we handle things in Vegas, huh?" Greg quietly said. Morgan looked at him and then slowly nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry, Greg, I'm just letting things get to me too much lately! I love being a CSI, I could never give it up! I think I just need to know when it's time to take a step back…"

"I think now's a great time for that," Greg softly said. "How about we finally go check out that ocean of yours?"

Morgan smiled at him. "That sounds like a great idea! Let's go!"

Without bothering to inform Karen they were leaving they left the LA police department and took a taxi back to their hotel where they changed into something more comfortable before hitting the beach. Morgan smiled when she saw the ocean.

"I love this place so much!" she confessed. "Thanks for bringing me here, Greg!"

"You're welcome," Greg smiled. "Now, are we just going to look at the ocean or what? Come on!"

He started running, but stopped when Morgan didn't move. "What? Aren't you coming?"

"No way! The water is freezing!" she called back. Of course that was the worst thing she could have said, because Greg immediately decided he wouldn't leave until he had pulled her into the water. She protested heavily, tried pulling back the arm he had grabbed, she screamed, but Greg was much too strong for her. Screaming she fell into the ice cold water.

"Just wait, Sanders, you won't get away with this!" she warned him. He grinned. "You'll have to catch me first…"

Laughing, she started running after him. He allowed her to catch him, but then took off again. With a smile on her face she fell down on the sand and waited for him to come back. When he did, she quickly grabbed his arms and pinned him down onto the sand.

"Hey, where did you learn how to do this?" he protested. Smiling, she released her grip a little. "From watching you pin Tyler against the wall at Dawn's house. I guess you need moves like that too when you're a true CSI."

"Then you're definitely a true CSI, because you've really mastered this move!" Greg grinned. "Now will you let me go, please?"

"Make me," she whispered with a seductive look in her eyes. He hesitated for a second, but then quickly turned around and pinned her to the ground.

"Gladly," he whispered before kissing her passionately.


End file.
